Some Midland residents receive incorrect election ballots

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - Residents of the 1400 block of Chestnut Avenue in central Midland reside within MISD District 1.

But some people in this neighborhood went to vote on election day, they were assigned the wrong ballot, and some people aren’t too happy about that.

“It put them in precinct 306; however, the map says we should be in precinct 308,” Chestnut resident Lynn Rogers said.

Rogers is one of many residents on the 1400 block of chestnut avenue who received an incorrect ballot when she went to the poll for the 2020 election…

Confused, she got in touch with her city councilman…

“This could possibly affect up to 200 people that are registered voters,” Midland City Councilman John Norman. “That’s 200 people that could swing an election.”

But that number isn’t exact. In fact, it could be higher.

“This is just who we know of on our block, like quite a few neighbors on our block, but there could be more people,” Rogers said. “And our vote we feel like was taken away from us.”

And it could have a major impact on the MISD School Board Trustee race in District 1.

“It’s so important considering we’re down by eight points, eight votes to go into a runoff with Mr. James Fuller, the incumbent,” said District 1 candidate Matt Galindo. “So, we’ve actually been out here walking these streets. I’ve been campaigning at these houses.”

This isn’t the first time Midland has had ballot issues.

“We have been having issues with our election process going back to the bond issue with the misplacement of ballots and all of those things,” Norman said. “But you’d like to think that the process is good and done with integrity.”

Rogers isn’t angry but says not being able to vote in the election was a letdown.

“We were very invested in who was running,” Rogers said. “So, we researched and looked at District 1 candidates and really weighed and made a decision, and we didn’t even get to choose.”

CBS7 reached out to the secretary of state’s office, who said they supplied ballots based on addresses supplied by the county.

When we reached out to the Midland County Elections Office for comment, they declined to comment until they have “more information”.

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